Thursday, September 15, 2016

Cardinal tipped to be the next Pope warns of an 'Islamic conquest of Europe' and says 'many Muslims want that'

An
Austrian cardinal who is one of the favourites to become the next Pope
has warned that Europe faces its biggest threat from Islam since the
17th century.

In
an astonishing speech the Roman Catholic Cardinal of Vienna, Christoph
Schönborn, warned that many Muslims wanted to eradicate Christianity and
conquer Europe.

He
was speaking at the Holy Name of Mary festival on Sunday which dates
back to 1683 when it was first held in gratitude for the victory of the
Austrian Habsburg Empire over the Ottoman Turks.

The Local newspaper
said the cardinal said: 'Will there be an Islamic conquest of Europe?
Many Muslims want that and say: Europe is at the end.'

He asked God to have mercy on Europe and said the continent was 'in danger of forfeiting our Christian heritage'.

In
a comment which is bound to be seen as an endorsement of the far-right
Austrian Freedom Party Cardinal Schönborn said people were seeing their
loss 'not only economically, but above all, in human and religious
matters'.

The cardinal is seen as a future Pope who, at the relatively age of 60, has time on his side.

The
Argentinian-born Pope Francis was only chosen in 2013 but he will be 80
later this year and may one day decide to follow his predecessor, Pope
Benedict, who resigned the post due to ill health, aged 86.

Muslims still make up only 10 percent of the population in Vienna.

Europe has been threatened militarily by Islamic foes twice before.

In
the eighth century the Muslim Moors invaded and conquered most of Spain
and parts of southern Italy and were only stopped by defeat at the
Battle of Tours in France. They were later turfed out of Iberia by the
armies of El Cid.

But
in September 1683 an army of 100,000 soldiers from the Ottoman Empire
arrived at the gates of Vienna, having already conquered the Balkans and
Hungary.

The
Austrians, supported by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Holy
Roman Empire, defeated the Ottomans and turned the tide of their
advance.

The
Austrian Freedom Party held its own event to mark the battle, which
involved speeches by Vienna's Vice-Mayor Johann Gudenus and Freedom
Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache, as well as historian Dr Lothar
Hobelt.

Relations
between Austria and Turkey have cooled recently with Austrian Foreign
Minister Sebastian Kurz reacting to the coup and the mass purge which
followed it by saying he wanted to stop any moves to bring Turkey closer
to joining the European Union.

Turkey recalled its ambassador to Austria and accused the country of Islamophobia.